On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of India took a regressive step and upheld Section 377 of IPC that legalises consensual relations between homosexual people. This law was called unconstitutional and referred to the Parliament for further citation.
Members of the community expressed shock and betrayal over this criminalisation as they could not believe that a law that was passed in 2009 would be repealed pushing them back into the 'closet existence'.
While many celebrities and politicians expressed their ire followed by the civil society, even brands had a story to tell quite creatively. we take a look here:
1. Amul
Amul is known for taking up current affairs and issues as part of its campaign-advertisements.
Sticking true to taking a stand, Amul shows its mascot, 'Amul girl' bidding adieu to freedom of choice.
2. Tanishq
Tanishq had garnered a 'thumbs up' for its advertisement featuring a woman getting remarried.
Now, sticking true to its earlier stand, Tanishq reiterates its stand on 'Free choice to right' with this poster. Extremely vocal about gay rights, this ad is a winner promoting the jewellery brand while standing for a cause.
3. Fastrack
Known to focus on the 'youth brigade', fast track has really outdone itself with this campaign.
The brand had created similar posters after the High Court verdict and decided to be vocal about the #SEC377 of IPC and human rights with two posters.
-Taking the quote 'Come out of the closet' quite literally.
4. Collezioni Moda
Lifestyle and accessories brand Collezioni Moda strongly protested against Supreme Court's decision by releasing a poster with a strong message that was a paraphrasing of the title, 'Fifty Shades of Grey.'
5.Random House India
Leading English-language book publisher Random House questioned the validity of Supreme Court's judgement by featuring Benjamin Law's book Gaysia and asking people for their opinion on the judgement.
6. Allen Solly
A two-decade old men's fashion brand Allen Solly came out in support of the gay community with a strong poster.
7. Night-club KittySu
The night-club KittySu posted a tweet along with an image in support of the LGBT community.
8. Simply Potatoes
Simply Potatoes, an initiative by WTF hospitality also supported the LGBT community with a cutesy poster featuring two potatoes and caption, 'Love needs no law'. Kudos!
9. Hidesign
Indian luxury brand Hidesign supported repealing of section 377 with this poster strongly.
10. Beforeafter.in
Shopping portal Beforeafter.in came out with a coupon that will deduct a total of Rs 337 INR from the final bill.
This probably was a strong way of passing the message against Supreme courts judgement criminalising gay sex.
Author's take: After the Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's judgement against section 377, social media has been buzzing with protests such as, 'gay for a day' and twitter has been buzzing with hashtags, #377, #GayRights #SCHearing amongst others.
People have pro-actively taken to expressing their dissent over the decision. So, when established and new brands entered the fray by supporting the cause, it shows the general public sentiment.
